Guy Buffet's Bio

Today
Guy Buffet is a celebrated artist with an international following. But he began
his artistic career as a child sketching on the tablecloths
of the Buffet family restaurant in postwar Paris! Forty-odd years later, the
carefree spirit of the mischievous boy still shines brilliantly from every
canvas... perhaps because his journey from then to now has been filled with a
childlike and unquenchable thirst for experience and an unabashed love of life.

Seemingly simple.
Buffet's playful compositions and colorful techniques are deceptively
complex, the result of years of formal training in the best art schools of
France. At 14, Buffet enrolled in the prestigious Beaux Arts de
Toulon and took advanced studies at the Academic
de Peinture de la Ville
de Paris.

A stint in the French Navy
rounded out his education. Young Buffet's tour of
duty took him to the exotic ports of the world: Tahiti, Hong Kong, Japan,
Lebanon, Vietnam and Martinique. His unique style began to develop as he painted
what he saw on his travels. Along the way, he exhibited too. And after
successful one-man shows in Papeete, New Caledonia and at the Museum of the
French Navy in Toulon, Buffet was named the official artist of the French Navy.
In that capacity, he

presented a series of
cultural exchange showings around the world. It
was during his second circumnavigation, that a kama'aina
family invited him to paint and exhibit in Honolulu and Buffet's lasting love
affair with Hawaii began. After a successful North American tour in 1963, Buffet
returned to the islands to make his home in Maui.
Accolades and important commission soon followed.

Buffet's work now hangs in
many fine public, private and corporate collections. He has been twice
commissioned by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and has
created several of the state's most beloved public murals. As a guest of the
Peking Arts and Crafts Council, he was invited to depict his view of China for
special exhibition. He is the official artist for Champagne-Perrier-Jouet
and has completed numerous commissions that enjoy worldwide distribution.

In 1987, he created his
first sculpture, "Le
Sommelier," for the Monnaie de Paris, the
government-owned mint. It is to the world of wine what the Oscar statuette is to
the film industry and is given annually to honor the world's best sommelier.

In 1989, Buffet was further
honored when the Monnaie de Paris commissioned him to create a series of
paintings in celebration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. This show
toured major U.S. and Canadian cities and ended in
Tokyo. That same year. Buffet was Seagram's
Chateaux and Estates Wine official artist for the centennial of the Eiffel
Tower and the Moulin Rouge, and for Vin-Expo'89 in Bordeaux.

About his art, Guy Buffet
has said, "I am an optimist, a positive person. When I paint, I invite the
viewer to share my experience. I take you into my world like a guest into my
home. I want you to be comfortable, relaxed, happy; to forget about problems and
sorrows. That's why I do not paint if I am sad or depressed. I want you to like
what you see in my world... then if you want to come back, my world is
yours."